


Fairy Tales and Superheroes

by zarabithia



Category: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 19:48:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14817762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: Going from sand castles on the beach to an Eternian palace suddenly makes those fairy tales seem more relevant to Marlena's life.





	1. The Little Mermaid: Discoveries

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DesertVixen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/gifts).



Marlena tried to remain still as her mother read to her. Mother worked very hard and very long, and her feet were always sore. Marlena knew that when story time was over, Mother would go downstairs and soak her feet, most likely until she fell asleep in the chair. 

Mother always left the door cracked open, because Marlena was afraid of the dark. The light from the hallway was enough to sooth Marlena's nerves, but the sounds coming from her parents downstairs were always much more instrumental in getting her to sleep than the stories that her mother told.

Mostly because Marlena wanted to argue with those stories. 

"What is it?" Mother asked, stopping the story abruptly. "You look agitated." 

"What's agitated mean?" 

Mother smiled in the tired way that she always smiled at Marlena in the evenings. "It means extremely upset. What's bothering you about the story, Marlena?" 

"The deal," Marlena answered. "It doesn't make any sense. She knew she'd never get to talk to her prince, right?" 

"Yes," Mother agreed. "That was part of the deal that she made with the Sea Witch." 

"Well, then, why did she make the deal?" 

"You mean why did she agree to a deal when she knew she couldn't tell him who she was?" 

"No." Marlena sat up in bed and leaned closer to her mother. "I don't understand _why_ she wanted to spend all her life with someone just to listen to him talk all the time! And she never got to talk? That's not fair!" 

Mother shut the book and gently placed it back onto the bookshelf next to Marlena's bed. It was getting crowded, and a few other books fell down off the top shelf as the heavy fairy tale book shook the weary old bookcase. Mother sighed and bent slowly to pick them up. Marlena frowned and got out of bed, quickly bending over to pick the fallen books back up for her mother. 

"Thank you, little princess. And you are right – having someone treat you as an equal partner is always important. Don't forget it."

* * *

The sand castle would truly be the most epic of sand castles. It was true that Marlena said that every time that her grandparents took her to the beach, but she had a plan this time. The buckets were deeper than the ones she had taken last year, and she had actual digging tools, so she didn't have to just use her hands. 

"All castles must fall eventually, Marlena," her grandfather told her, and he ruffled her hair. 

She pulled away, because having her hair ruffled was truly one of life's greatest irritations. Her grandfather laughed, as he always did when she told him that she didn't like having her hair ruffled, and went to go sit next to her grandmother further up the beach.

Marlena carefully gathered up the supplies and walked closer to the beach. In the distance, she could hear her grandmother call to her to be careful. 

"Don't get too close!" Grandmother called. 

But Marlena _was_ careful. She watched the waves come crashing in, because of course, she could not built her castle too close to the water. Otherwise, her castle would be ruined. 

Yet, she could not be too far away from the ocean, because she would need water. One could hardly build a proper sand castle without water – the sand wouldn't hold together, and besides, what kind of castle didn't have an amazing moat? 

When she had determined the right location – several feet away from her grandparents, yet within their eyesight – she placed her tools down and went to fetch her first bucket of water. She was on her knees, compacting the sand tightly into her bucket, when a little boy she did not recognize came to sit down beside her. 

"Can I play?" he asked. 

Marlena hesitated. She was not certain that she wanted him to play at all. Usually, when boys wanted to play castles, they wanted to take _over_. 

"Can you play nicely?" she asked. Then she scowled at him in warning. "Do you know how to _share_?"

"I do!" he protested, but Marlena was doubtful. He looked bigger – and bigger kids were never kind ones, especially when you were a tiny _girl_ on the beach. But then he glanced over his shoulder at a group of also bigger boys who were sitting far too close to the ocean and were playing soccer, even though it was against the rules to play it on this part of the beach. " _They_ don't know how to share, but I do."

Marlena looked at the group of boys and recognized one that had snapped her two piece swimsuit last year, and was primarily to blame for the fact that she was wearing a one-piece this year. 

"They wouldn't share with you?" she asked the boy in front of her. 

"They wouldn't let me play at all," he answered, and he seemed very sad about it. 

Well, that was a little understandable, even if Marlena quite liked playing by herself on the beach. Boys usually didn't, because they were strange. 

"Why not?" she asked. 

"Because I don't look like them." 

Well, that was a very stupid reason indeed. 

"Alright. You can play with me," she said. "But you have to share." 

"Great! I'm Louis. Do you want to have a moat?" he asked. 

"I'm Marlena," she said. "And you can be in charge of the moat." 

Later, the other boys kicked their soccer ball right into the castle. It knocked down some of the towers – though not all of them, because that's what happens when you build the towers correctly - and utterly demolished Louis' moat.

"We can rebuilt it," she consoled Louis. "That's what you do after a disaster."

* * *

The idea that she has actually landed on another planet was not, in and of itself, all that unique. There were many planets in the universe – far more than Marlena had ever thought she might get to see when she'd first decided to become an astronaut. 

The fact that her crew immediately abandoned her was also not difficult to believe – they'd never exactly struck Marlena as the loyal type. That they would leave their captain behind without first checking to see if she was dead was not surprising in the least. 

However, the fact that she had crash landed on a planet that could sustain life was a little harder to believe. The fact that the first person who came to greet her was a King? Or – to be more accurate - the fact that she came to consciousness in the arms of a king on this strange new planet? 

That was much more difficult to believe. 

Yet here she was, two weeks after having crashed on _Eternia_ , watching a play with the king seated next to her. Or, rather, she supposed, with herself seated next to the king. 

"Are you enjoying the play, Captain Glenn?" Randor asked beside her. 

A king didn't have to whisper during a play, Marlena noted. Some things were similar on Eternia as they were on Earth, she supposed. But then, it wasn't as though anyone was going to complain; they were up on a beautiful gold balcony, far beyond the ears of a people who did not seem to consider it strange at all that their king was spending time with an alien woman who had crashed on their planet two weeks ago.

"Of course, King Randor," she answered. "I was just marveling... all of your actors. So many different types of people on Eternia. On Earth, we struggled with far more simple differences. Here, prejudices don't seem to exist, whether you have fur or wings or horns." 

"It would be foolish to be prejudiced against someone for having an appearance they can't change," Randor said. The self-righteousness should bother her, she supposed. 

But on the other hand, it was very easy to get caught up in the way that he believed so strongly in right and wrong. His certainty that fairness was something everyone in his kingdom should experience was... charming, if idealistic. 

"Do you think everyone on Eternia feels that way?" Marlena asked. "Even those who do not sit before their king in a palace production of his favorite play?"

She expected anger, perhaps. Or perhaps that was what she wanted. Perhaps she was hoping for a facade of kindness to suddenly crumble before her. If it did, that would make returning home so much easier. 

Marlena had discovered, after all, that disagreeing with men verbally was the surest way to get them to stop being _nice._ It was the first thing a woman learned when they took a science class full of men, after all.

And just as those men had been in those classes she had fought her way through, Randor was used to being treated as though his opinion was the only one that mattered. 

But the anger didn't come. Instead, he said, "I would hope that if my people did not feel that way, then they would feel free to be honest with me in the same way that you are now. But I fear that you are right, because no other person on Eternia has ever spoken as honestly to me as you have."

"I imagine that is because they are used to seeing you as a king, and my part of Earth did not have one." 

"Yes." Randor reached out his hand and took hers in his; Marlena allowed it. "I suppose that may be true. But I will miss that honesty when you are gone." 

"Yes, well... we still have a few days," Marlena told him. "Until Duncan is finished with my ship." 

Marlena squeezed his hand and turned her eyes back towards the play.

* * *

The children were, of course, too young to understand what she was saying. They were barely two days old, and both the pain she had experienced and the wrinkles of her two beautiful children had yet to work themselves out. 

They would someday, of that, Marlena was certain. 

But in the meantime, she was alone with her perfect children in the nursery. Her perfect prince and her equally perfect princess, both of whom would have meant two entire worlds to Marlena, even if their father hadn't been a king. 

The rest of Eternia celebrated Adam and Adora because of their royal blood. But for Marlena, the fact that they were both alive and well was cause enough for celebration. 

Although they could not understand her, she rocked their cradle gently and spoke to them as much as she could. She told them of Earth, of grandparents and family members they'd never get to see. 

"They'd love you," she told them. "Not as much as I do, and not as much as your father. But they would have loved you a good deal. I'm sorry that you can't meet them, but I can never regret leaving Earth behind. Not when I have such two fine children as the two of you." 

Adam and Adora looked up at her, as if they could understand every word she had to say. Marlena knew that was foolishness, and she knew that they could not possibly remember anything that she had to say, either.

But with her new family close, memories of her old family pulled at her heart, and her heart was full for multiple reasons as she began to tell stories from her world. It would be a tradition, she decided - one that she would pass down to them to ensure that they never forgot that they came from two cultures, even if they never were exposed to Marlena's.

Though she did make a few adjustments. 

"And so, the little mermaid was granted legs, but only under the condition that she find someone who would fall in love with her opinions as well as her beauty," Marlena finished the up the story as the twins began to close their eyes. "And although it took her several years, she eventually did. And they lived happily ever after."


	2. Chronicles of Narnia: Compromises

Birthdays were always a delight in Marlena's family. It was a special day that Mother and Father got to take off of work. Other families in Marlena's class would have elaborate parties, but usually Mother made a cake and if Marlena was very lucky, she would get a new toy to go along with her book.

This year, Mother and Father could only afford a new book. But that was okay with Marlena, because what a thick book it was! 

"You're old enough to read this, right?" Mother asked with a smile. There were more wrinkles around Mother's eyes this year than Marlena remembered seeing before and Marlena felt a twinge of guilt as she took the book. She was definitely going to read every page. 

"I can!" she told Mother. "As soon as we've eaten cake. I bet I can finish it before tomorrow." 

"Take your time, Marlena," Mother scolded gently. "Birthdays only happen so often. Make it last." 

It was good advice, and perhaps advice that she would have followed, had she had more patience. But the book was thicker than any other on her shelf _and_ it was the latest in a series that Marlena had been reading devotedly from the library. The library didn't have this one yet, and Marlena had waited for _so long_ to see how the last chapter in the story went. 

So she began the story with a good deal of excitement.

But by the time she got half-way through the book, she began to get agitated. By the time she reached the end, she was thoroughly angry.

Honestly, why couldn't Susan just wear leggings and lipstick in _Narnia_ and have the best of both worlds?

* * *

It was wonderful, having another woman in her senior level engineering course. The last time Marlena had been in an engineering class with another woman, she'd been a freshman and Dinah had transferred back to community college in order to finish her degree closer to home. 

The baby on the way had maybe given Dinah another reason to go home, Marlena admitted grudgingly. 

Either way, Marlena was thrilled at the fact that she was sharing an engineering class with a female student again.

"Where did you say you transferred from again?" Marlena asked. 

"I didn't," Evelyn said dryly. "Are you always this chatty? I thought the point of having a study session was actually studying." 

That was certainly rude, but the men in Marlena's class were definitely even more rude so she tried again. "Oh. I thought maybe you'd want a break. The last chapter was pretty intense." 

"Do _you_ need a break?" Evelyn asked. "It wouldn't surprise me, the way you've been going through that junk food. It's terrible on your digestive system. I don't know how you expect to pass NASA's health requirements when you fill your body with that ... filth." 

Marlena took a deep breath to steady her anger. 

Then she opened another package of M & Ms. "Sometimes, you compromise," she answered, before tossing a handful into her mouth.

"Hmph," Evelyn muttered with disdain. "It's just as well. I'm far more suited to being captain than the likes of you, anyway."

* * *

Tomorrow, Marlena will pledge to spend the rest of her life as the Queen to Randor. That was, after all, the wording of the wedding vows. Marlena had read them no less than four times, and each time she read them, the flutter in her stomach reminds her of her first flight exercise back on Earth. 

Tomorrow, Randor will pledge to spend the rest of his life as Marlena's king. 

For now, Marlena sat in the side garden, forty feet away from the window to what will be their shared chambers. Randor sat at her side, because the tradition of the husband and wife not seeing each other on the night before their wedding was not one which Eternia shared. 

"Although, I think I have heard of some of the aquatic people in the north share that custom," Randor mused. "We could as well, my dear - if you wish it." 

"It's too late for that now," Marlena said. "And I'd rather spend tonight the same way I have spent every night since I arrived here." 

"In that case, I think we're in the wrong spot," Randor said good-naturedly. 

"Ah, but the night is still young, my king." 

"Right you are," Randor agreed. His expression was tender as he asked her earnestly, "Are you sure everything is to your liking for tomorrow? It's not too late to change it."

"You are sweet to worry, but also foolish," she teased him. "I have told you, everything is perfect. In fact, there is no other little girl from planet Earth who could have imagined a wedding day so sweet." 

"If you're sure. The dress works for you? I know it is traditional Eternian, but ... well, I haven't seen you in a dress since you arrived." 

"I've been known to wear them," Marlena said, with a hint of a laugh. "But only on special occasions... and what occasion could be more special than becoming a queen?"

* * *

Two years had passed since Adora had been stolen from them.

Marlena held out hope, of course. In the early months, Duncan and The Sorceress promised that they would do everything they could to find Marlena's daughter. 

It was so easy to believe in them, because after all, Eternia was a magical planet. Marlena had crashed there, survived, fell in love with King, married, and had two perfect children. Because Eternia was a perfect, magical place, it was easy to believe that the place she loved so much was going to give Marlena a way to have a whole family once again.

But days faded into weeks and the numb pain that Marlena could not shake had to be put aside. The baby Hordack had left behind still needed fed. He still needed changed. He still needed his mother. 

As weeks turned into months, Adam grew larger, and the wrinkles on his face grew into fat, rosy cheeks; Marlena wondered if Adora's belly was just as full. But her grief could not consume her as entirely as she wanted it to, because the child in her arms still needed the lullabies that his sister had been denied.

When the months had turned into two years, the sorceress came to see Marlena, and Marlena knew it was not good news.

"We have tried every door possible in Castle Greyskull to no avail. I believe the best step would be to cast a spell," she said softly. "To spare Adam the pain of ... this loss." 

Adam sat in his mother's lap, content with the toy Duncan had made him last week. If he was aware of the discussion between his mother and the stranger, he did not seem to notice. The toy sky sled was far more interesting to him. 

Marlena listed to her, and she thought of the way that her babies had woken at the same time. She thought of how they had seemed to reach for each other, even though they'd probably been to young for that decision to do either of them any good. She thought of Adora's tiny hand settling briefly on Adam's when they had laid in the cradle together.

She swallowed hard and nodded her consent. Randor would give his to Duncan. That was usually how it worked. 

"Before you go, would you like to stay and hear a story?" Marlena asked softly. "It is about time for Adam's nap, and he likes a story." 

In her lap, Adam rubbed his eyes. "Not sleepy," he insisted. 

"I'd like that, your majesty," the sorceress said. 

And so, Marlena held her son close and began on of his favorite tales - the one with lions and witches and very big closets. He drifted off to sleep before Marlena reached the end. 

But the sorceress' hand was resting gently on Marlena's shoulders as Marlena spoke of dear, gentle Susan - separated from her family, but still very deeply loved by them.


	3. Wonder Woman: Battles

Louis dropped the comic book onto the table and Marlena looked at it doubtfully.

"It's not a _real_ book," she said disdainfully. 

"Marlena," Louis said with a sigh. "Don't do this. Don't be a _snob_ about literature." 

"Having taste isn't being a snob," she protested. "And you sound like Biff when you imply otherwise." 

"I sound like Biff Beastman?" Louis put one hand over his heart and pretended to be scandalized. Or, actually, it probably wasn't a pretense at all. It was probably actually Louis being scandalized. "Anyway, having standards isn't being a snob, and neither are personal tastes. But excluding an entire medium because it's not something you're familiar with? That's snobby." 

Marlena's pride was bruised a bit, but she had to concede the point. She didn't have to like the fact that she conceded the point, but she did have to admit that Louis was right. 

"Fine," she said with a sigh. "Let me interrupt this valuable SAT studying time to read your silly comic. What's it called?" 

"Your SATs aren't until next fall. And it's _Wonder Woman_ ," he said. "It's about an Amazon princess who leaves paradise to go fight in a war." 

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Marlena retorted. "Why would you leave _paradise_ to go fight in a war?" 

"Because it's the right thing to do," Louis argued. "Come on, it just got a new writer. It's a perfect place to jump on; if you don't like it, you can take me to the beach and bury me in sand." 

"You just want to look at all the pretty boys," Marlena protested. 

"Sure do! Don't you?" 

Marlena grinned and opened the comic.

* * *

There were at least seven hundred points Marlena was trying to go over on the night before the Rainbow Explorer took flight in a week. Between the fuel systems and the newly installed weapons systems, Marlena had very little time to devote to chit chat. 

Normally, this was a perfectly reasonable thing to expect from Evelyn Powers, who had been plaguing Marlena's professional career since Marlena's undergraduate years. But Evelyn, who was currently feeling very, very unappreciated, had apparently decided that today was a day for chatting. 

"It isn't fair, you know," Evelyn said, putting her feet up onto the navigational controls that Marlena would have liked to have run tests on, considering that their launch was _in less than a week._

"You'll have to specify, Evelyn," Marlena answered. "Many things in life are, in fact, not at all fair." 

It earned her a glare, which Marlena supposed was fair enough; it wasn't the nicest thing she could have said. She'd promised Mother that she would remain kind and fair to everyone, even one she became a "big shot" star fighter pilot. Marlena liked to think that was true most of the time, too. 

But something about Evelyn's particular disposition made Marlena want to buckle down into fight mode. It was almost as though she was six years old and getting her sand castle knocked down all over again. If Louis could meet Evelyn, Marlena was sure that Louis would agree with Marlena's assessment. 

"What isn't fair, Glenn, is that someone like you is taking over the spot that I was clearly meant to have." 

"We all took the same classes and passed - or failed - the same tests," Marlena said patiently. 

"Not all of us! Not only do they stick me with an inferior person like you as my captain, but they stick us both with a technician who isn't fit to be an astronaut as our 'technician.' Do you not see that they clearly only want him on the mission because they want a man on board to watch our every move?" 

Marlena didn't discount the possibility - at least not entirely. "It's possible," she agreed. "But I haven't had a man on my missions the fourteen other times that I've piloted a space shuttle. I had an entirely female crew on _The Amelia_ , and we did just fine. NASA didn't bother us at all or add any men that would have gotten in the way." 

Evelyn's feet came off the navigation controls and landed loudly on the floor of the shuttle craft. "So you're saying this is my fault, then?" she demanded.

Well, Marlena hadn't meant to imply that at all. But it seemed to make Evelyn miserable, so Marlena was perfectly okay with allowing her to think that. 

It wasn't particularly kind, but then, Evelyn was more than a little evil herself. 

* * *

Marlena was supposed to have a date with her husband. But Skeletor had caused a not insignificant amount of havoc upon Eternia in the past two weeks, and Randor had needed to excuse himself away in order to heal a riff with Andreenos that had developed as a result of the king's perceived inability to protect them from Skeletor's onslaught. 

So instead of a date with her husband, Marlena had a date with her eight-year-old son and his pet tiger. 

"He's getting better," Adam told his mother as they sat in the gardens where his father had once proposed to her and ate the sandwiches that Chef Allan had prepared for them. "Sometimes, he even leaves my side."

At the present moment, Cringer was curled up at Adam's side, shaking all over, and showed no sign of wanting to leave her son's lap. Marlena smothered a smile behind one of native fruits that came from one of the local markets. 

"Do you know that on my world, tigers were one of the most fearsome creatures?" she said to both Adam and Cringer. "Why, of all of our predators, the tigers of Earth were certainly the ones you would want to meet least." 

"Fearsome? Predators?" Cringer's eyes widened and he crawled even closer to Adam. "They sound scary."

"Oh, scary they were indeed," Marlena agreed. It was difficult to believe that the her once beloved Sher-Khan could have had anything in common with the green cousin that was so pitiful next to her son. "Why, they were even known to eat people on occasion, I believe." 

"Gee, Cringe. You aren't going to get me in my sleep, are you?" Adam asked.

"N-no!" Cringer exclaimed. "That's too much work anyhow, Adam. I would like another piece of fish, though." 

The tiger received two pieces of fish, of course. 

After her son finished feeding Cringer his requested fish, he turned back to look at his mother. "Do you miss it?" he asked softly, and for a minute, the confident and outgoing eight-year-old was nowhere to be found. In his place was an uncertain and worried child. 

Marlena remembered, suddenly, her own mother's sore feet and the gray hairs that had taken over every inch of the red that Mother had passed on down to Marlena by the time Marlena had boarded the Rainbow Explorer. 

"Earth was a complicated place," she told Adam. "There were many things that I loved about it. There were many things that I do miss about it. But that's not what you're asking me, is it?" 

Adam bit his lip. "I can't imagine leaving Eternia, Mother. Do you regret leaving Earth?" 

Marlena thought for a moment of all she had left behind, all that Eternia had cost her, and of a daughter who Marlena missed more and more with every inch that Adam grew. 

"I don't," she said, truthfully. "On Earth, I sought adventure in the stars because there was nothing worth staying grounded for. On Eternia, I have you and your father and a kingdom that relies upon me to be their queen. Those responsibilities are sometimes not as dramatic as the ones of a fighter pilot... but they are just as fulfilling to me."

Adam looked doubtful, and Marlena supposed she might have been at the age of eight, as well. 

"Finish your lunch," she told him. "Then we will go into town and see how the villagers are doing." 

"Why?" he asked. "Is there a problem?" 

"Does there need to be a problem?" she asked. "You are their prince and I am their queen. You have a duty to see how they are faring, Adam. Don't every forgot that. It's important that you be kind, even when you'd rather lasso tigers and have space battles."

* * *

Marlena's children were superheroes. 

It was a bizarre concept to wrap one's head around, but Adam had been He-Man for almost four years by the time that he'd gone to Etheria and brought Adora home. Now, Marlena had to get used to the idea of seeing that her daughter was one, as well. 

Although she didn't have to get used to seeing it up close, because Adora had decided to return to Etheria. She could have stayed on Eternia and lived a fairly pampered life on Eternia. Sure, she'd have the occasional fight with Skeletor, who seemed determined to spend the rest of his existence throwing a tantrum on a monthly basis. 

But together She-Ra and He-Man easily could overpower Skeletor and his silly threats. But Adora had chosen to return to a land plagued by a galactic imperialistic fleet. It was not going to be a quick victory and realistically, Marlena knew that Adora might never have the luxury to return them and be the princess that Eternia deserved. 

Marlena hated it. She hated having to pretend that she didn't hate it.

But she did anyway. Just as she pretended not to know where Adam was always sneaking off to, and just as she kept his secret by never saying anything to Randor each time he could not see what was so clear to Marlena about the bravery that their son possessed. 

Her son came to find her, sitting in the same nursery that Hordack had stolen her daughter away from her all those years ago. 

"You've returned," she said, her voice more relieved than she intended it to be. 

"Of course," Adam said. "I just had to make sure Adora got the rebellion off to a good start." 

Oh, she had no doubt of that. "I'm glad the two of you have bonded so much. I always knew the two of you would be close, if given a chance." 

Adam came and sat down beside her. He'd grown so tall, but at the moment, Marlena remembered clearly how he'd fit into the palm of her hands so easily. "I'm going to miss her too, Mother." 

She nodded and allowed Adam to take her hand. There were callouses there, that might have matched her own mother's hands; Marlena wondered if the wrinkles on her face also matched. Did she seem as weary to Adam as her own mother always had?

She hoped not, but at the moment, she felt every bit as exhausted as she remembered Mother ever being. 

"Mother?" Adam said quietly. "Please tell me what you're thinking. I know this is hard, but..." 

Her grown, responsible son never begged these days. He was so good and proper and brave - everything a prince should be. Marlena hated that she had made him feel even a moment of additional sorrow when so much of it already resided on his shoulders. 

"I was thinking of Queen Hippolyta," she told him.

"I don't know who that is," Adam answered.

"Wonder Woman's mother." 

"Ah." Adam smiled, as he always had at her stories. "Wonder Woman... she fought with Superman, right?" 

"She did. Wonder Woman's mother had to stand on the shores of paradise and watch her daughter go off to fight the good fight," Marlena reminded him. "... Although, I suppose Superman's mother did the same when she sent him away." 

"Superman's mother _died_ ," Adam said, a little alarmed. "And you can't be doing that, or ... who will celebrate Wonder Woman's return to paradise when she is victorious?" 

War was never that simple, and Adam knew that by now. They both knew it, and Marlena did not know whether he was trying to sooth her feelings or his. 

But either way, she hugged her son and chose not to remind him of the part of the story that said one cannot return to Paradise once they left. Perhaps this time it would not hold true.


End file.
